bandhunter20 wrote:GHG or Dakota. All i use and they hold up the best, ive used many other brands and most have problems with paint coming off, companies like redhead, flambeau, tanglefree

I have used GHG but just the hot buys. I am starting to learn the if you hunt much with cheap decoys, you can expect to replace the every other year. I'm gonna try to get a few dozen over the off season to replace some that have reached the end of there useful life. I doubt I'll be buying any Dakota decoys at $180 a dozen where I'm at.

Best bang for buck? Probably GHG ProGrades. They aren't cheap, but they will last a long time...and their realism is unsurpassed.

Up to the individual whether he wants to pay $3 for an adequate decoy that has to be replaced every two years, or $10 for a decoy that will do a better job for 5 or 6 or 30 years. Which is more important to you; the bang or the buck?

Last edited by mudpack on Mon Apr 14, 2014 6:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

Those of you suggesting Pro Grades for their durability must really be babying your decoys. My experience is limited to the Pro Grade teal and wigeon, but the durability of those decoys in my experience is appalling. I bought some Pro Grade teal several years ago and after one season most of them were missing about 1/3 of their paint. I swore I would never purchase another Pro Grade decoy but decided to give them another shot this past season and bought some wigeon. In an effort to preserve the paint, I sprayed the decoys with 3-4 coats of clear coat and they STILL lost paint. The wigeon also have "raised" primaries on one side (a plastic insert that's bound to the decoy by 2 plastic pegs and some glue). While these may add a touch of realism, they also leak. Pro Grade's look great out of the box, but I certainly wouldn't label them as durable.

My ProGrade mallards have held up very well over the last three seasons. They get thrown in a mesh bag, and tossed in the boat; no babying here. My ProGrade wigeons have not held up quite as well, but still are good after four seasons. The PG teal are holding up beautifully. I can't explain why your teal and wigeon have not held up......

I'll admit I baby my GHG ProGrades. They are in 12 slot bags and pretty much stay in them unless they are on the water. My GHG diver deeks however are all in one big huge bag from Cabelas, but I haven't used them nearly as much as my mallard deeks.

No need to beat up your decoys just to say you hunt hard. I don't have any walk in area I hunt so I'm always in the boat... So if I had to walk in I'd probably use one single back and they'd get beat up more.

My Pro-Grades went through their 3rd season of Texas Rigging and still look great. I don't purposely throw my decoys around but Texas Rigging isn't babying decoys by any means. The GHG Divers are pretty much indestructible in my opinion. If you don't want to spend the money on Pro-Grades the Life Size series are great decoys as well.

Ukcatshunter wrote:For my first season I'm going to try a dozen of the life size mallards.

Thats what I started with! they look great!

I have a few dozen of the GHG lifesize decoys and they are all Teaxs rigged and just get tossed in the truck, decoy sled, and boat. they still look great after a few seasons. I have probably have had 2 doz them for 4 or 5 years, and they still look great but do have very minor chips. They're much cheaper than pro-grades, last just as long, and look great. also lots of different species available too.

NRA and DU member, are you? if not you should be!

rabbitdundied wrote: I use my mojos in places I don't want birds to land.

I also started with the GHG LifeSize. Their paint (mallard hens) has been very fragile. The LifeSize pintails, on the other hand, have been in use as long as the mallards and their paint has held up very well. Both of those species of decoys are used many times a season in the same spread, under the same conditions.

mudpack wrote:I also started with the GHG LifeSize. Their paint (mallard hens) has been very fragile. The LifeSize pintails, on the other hand, have been in use as long as the mallards and their paint has held up very well. Both of those species of decoys are used many times a season in the same spread, under the same conditions.

hmm odd my mallard hens have been more durable than any other decoy I have. But it could be that mine are newer than yours? only my mallard drakes have minor scuffs on the heads and the occasional chip off the bill on them.

NRA and DU member, are you? if not you should be!

rabbitdundied wrote: I use my mojos in places I don't want birds to land.

Agree, somewhat. My battleship Higdon are awesome , late season due to the paint scheme of mature flight ducks. They are heavy.

My G&H that are going on 16 years now, still bring the early birds and until 6 years ago were thrown into a stand up Drake bag.Wish G&H would bring back the old paint scheme, not crazy about the new look.........

Going to look at the Big Foot mallards sometime this year.Going to walk through the decoys section of my favorite store, doing the finger nail test on all the paints. Amazed of of many decoys you can just scratch the paint off with a little pressure

It's not just a duck boat, it is a tatical platform for opportunity- weedwacker 101

Preserve game and hunt with a trained dog- NAVHDA

"In looking back thru his posts over there he kind of thinks of himself as the zen of all things fowl."

And hen teal with heads just like its. My GHG paint experience has been too mixed to trust. Most recently bought some Pro Grade teal three seasons that's heads have faded but not gone green, yet, but some are chipping or slipping paint.

the first 8 years or so I hunted I used a set of hand me down no name blocks some guy gave my dad. I never really had the money to use anything different and needless to say they didn't look great but I guess I killed all the dumb ducks. When I finally bought decoys for myself, what do you know, I still killed ducks...the DHC elitist in me wants to answer this with SCOUT, SCOUT, SCOUT SOME MORE. haha.